Joshua ( ''Yəhōšūa‘'') or Yeshua ( ''Yēšūaʿ'') the High Priest was, according to the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, the first person chosen to be the

High Priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...

for the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple after the return of the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s from the

Babylonian Captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile is the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon, the capital city of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, following their defeat ...

(See and in the Bible).

Life

Joshua son of Jozadak served as

ca. 515–490 BCE in the common

List of High Priests of Israel This article gives a list of the High Priests (''Kohen Gadol'') of Ancient Israel up to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. Because of a lack of historical data, this list is incomplete and there may be gaps. High Priests of Israel ...

. This dating is based on the period of service at age 25–50 (per

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

) rather than age 30–50 (per ). The biblical text credits Joshua among the leaders that inspired a momentum towards the reconstruction of the temple, in

Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρας ...

. Later some of his sons and nephews are found guilty of intermarriage. Facts concerning the later part of Joshua's life are in part dependent upon whether Joshua was still alive at the time of his appearance in a vision seen by Zechariah. If the vision relates to

Nehemiah Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. He was governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia (465–424 BC). The name is pronounced ...

's cleansing of the temple in then the engagement of Joshua's great-great-grandson to the daughter of

Sanballat the Horonite Sanballat the Horonite ( he, סַנְבַלַּט ''Sanḇallaṭ'') – or Sanballat I – was a Samaritan leader and official of the Persian Achaemenid Empire who lived in the mid to late 5th century BC and was a contemporary of Nehemiah. Etymo ...

would place Joshua in his late 90s if he were still alive.

Appearance in vision

In the

Book of Zechariah The Book of Zechariah, attributed to the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, is included in the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Historical context Zechariah's prophecies took place during the reign of Darius the Great and were contempora ...

, Zechariah the prophet experiences a vision given to him by an

angel of the Lord The (or an) angel of the ( he, מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה '' mal’āḵ YHWH'' "messenger of Yahweh") is an entity appearing repeatedly in the Tanakh ( Old Testament) on behalf of the God of Israel. The guessed term ''YHWH'', which occur ...

in which the restoration and cleansing of Joshua's priestly duties are affirmed. Included in the visions were requirements in which Joshua was expected to uphold. These included: (1) walk in the ways of God, (2) keeping the requirements (the law), (3) ruling God's house, (4) take charge of my courts; by fulfilling these duties, the angel granted access to the inner temple to Joshua and his fellow priest. The vision also functioned to purify Joshua and to sanctify him for the preparations of his priestly duties. Alternatively, if Joshua had in fact died before the events of

13, then it is possible that the vision intended to depict a heavenly throneroom scene of

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

and the angel disputing over the soul of Joshua, and the intended target of the allegory is the then serving high priest, his grandson,

Eliashib Eliashib ( ''’Elyāšîḇ'', " El restores") the High Priest is mentioned in Nehemiah 12:10,22 and 3:1, 20-21,13:28 and possibly the Book of Ezra of the Hebrew Bible as (grand)father (Nehemiah 12:22) of the high priest Johanan (Ezra 10:6). Some a ...

.Meyers, op.cit.

Tomb

In 1825, the traditional tomb of Joshua was reported to have been found at "one hour's distance from

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

Patrilineal Ancestry

As per 1 Chronicles chapter 5

Notes and references

External links